Mortality in relation to alcohol consumption: a prospective study among male British doctors.

Background: To relate alcohol consumption patterns to mortality in an elderly population.

Methods: We undertook a 23-year prospective study of 12 000 male British doctors aged 48-78 years in 1978, involving 7000 deaths. Questionnaires about drinking and smoking were completed in 1978 and once again in 1989-91.

Tobacco attributable deaths in South Africa.

Background: In mid 1998, a question "Was the deceased a smoker five years ago?" was introduced on the newly revised South African death notification form.

Design: A total of 16,230 new death notification forms from 1998 have been coded, and comparison of the prevalence of smoking among those who died of different causes was used to estimate, by case-control comparisons, tobacco attributed mortality in South Africa. Cases comprised deaths from causes known (from other studies) to be causally associated with smoking, and controls comprised deaths from medical conditions expected to be unrelated to smoking.

Blood biochemistry and the risk of cancer.

A longitudinal study based on a serum sample bank was carried out in Finland to find out the association between biochemical substances and the subsequent risk of cancer. The objective was to evaluate the consistency between means of individually estimated levels of these compounds and levels based on pooling. Levels of alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, retinol, retinol-binding protein, and ceruloplasmin were estimated by primary site and sex and partly by age and morphology.

Verbal autopsy of 80,000 adult deaths in Tamilnadu, South India.

Background: Registration of the fact of death is almost complete in the city of Chennai and not so in the rural Villupuram district in Tamilnadu, India. The cause of death is often inadequately recorded on the death certificate in developing countries like India. A special verbal autopsy (VA) study of 48,000 adult (aged >or= 25 yrs) deaths in the city of Chennai (urban) during 1995-97 and 32,000 in rural Villupuram during 1997-98 was conducted to arrive at the probable underlying cause of death to estimate cause specific mortality.

Lipid-related genes and myocardial infarction in 4685 cases and 3460 controls: discrepancies between genotype, blood lipid concentrations, and coronary disease risk.

Background: Blood lipid concentrations are causally related to the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Various associations between CHD risk and genes that moderately affect plasma lipid levels have been described, but previous studies have typically involved too few 'cases' to assess these associations reliably.

Methods: The present study involves 4685 cases of myocardial infarction (MI) and 3460 unrelated controls without diagnosed cardiovascular disease.

Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors.

Objective: To compare the hazards of cigarette smoking in men who formed their habits at different periods, and the extent of the reduction in risk when cigarette smoking is stopped at different ages.

Design: Prospective study that has continued from 1951 to 2001.

Setting: United Kingdom.

Prevention of disabling and fatal strokes by successful carotid endarterectomy in patients without recent neurological symptoms: randomised controlled trial.

Background: Among patients with substantial carotid artery narrowing but no recent neurological symptom (stroke or transient ischaemia), the balance of surgical risks and long-term benefits from carotid endarterectomy (CEA) was unclear.

Methods: During 1993-2003, 3120 asymptomatic patients with substantial carotid narrowing were randomised equally between immediate CEA (half got CEA by 1 month, 88% by 1 year) and indefinite deferral of any CEA (only 4% per year got CEA) and were followed for up to 5 years (mean 3.4 years).

Effect of temperature and light on the stability of fat-soluble vitamins in whole blood over several days: implications for epidemiological studies.

Background: Biochemical measurement of fat-soluble vitamins would allow direct assessment in epidemiological studies of their association with disease. However, the perceived instability of these compounds and typically high cost of collection and analysis may make their measurement impractical, particularly in large-scale studies. Using a high performance liquid chromatography assay developed in-house, we have investigated the separate effects of temperature and light on the stability of vitamins in whole blood over several days.

Breast cancer and abortion: collaborative reanalysis of data from 53 epidemiological studies, including 83?000 women with breast cancer from 16 countries.

Background: The Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer has brought together the worldwide epidemiological evidence on the possible relation between breast cancer and previous spontaneous and induced abortions.

Methods: Data on individual women from 53 studies undertaken in 16 countries with liberal abortion laws were checked and analysed centrally. Relative risks of breast cancer--comparing the effects of having had a pregnancy that ended as an abortion with those of never having had that pregnancy--were calculated, stratified by study, age at diagnosis, parity, and age at first birth.

Effects of cholesterol-lowering with simvastatin on stroke and other major vascular events in 20536 people with cerebrovascular disease or other high-risk conditions.

Background: Lower blood cholesterol concentrations have consistently been found to be strongly associated with lower risks of coronary disease but not with lower risks of stroke. Despite this observation, previous randomised trials had indicated that cholesterol-lowering statin therapy reduces the risk of stroke, but large-scale prospective confirmation has been needed.

Methods: 3280 adults with cerebrovascular disease, and an additional 17256 with other occlusive arterial disease or diabetes, were randomly allocated 40 mg simvastatin daily or matching placebo.

Complex behavioural and educational interventions for nocturnal enuresis in children.

Background: Nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting) is a socially disruptive and stressful condition which affects around 15-20% of five year olds, and up to 2% of young adults.

Objectives: To assess the effects of complex behavioural and educational interventions on nocturnal enuresis in children, and to compare them with other interventions.

Search Strategy: We searched the Cochrane Incontinence Group trials register (December 2002) and the reference lists of relevant articles.

Get with the guidelines for cardiovascular secondary prevention: pilot results.

Background: The use of Web-based technology and a collaborative model to improve hospital adherence to secondary prevention guidelines has not been previously evaluated.

Methods: Twenty-four hospitals in Massachusetts participated in a collaborative that met quarterly, with didactic and best-practice presentations and interactive multidisciplinary team workshops. A customized tool kit and interactive, Web-based management tool were used for data collection and on-line feedback.

Drugs for nocturnal enuresis in children (other than desmopressin and tricyclics).

Background: Enuresis (bedwetting) is a socially stigmatising and stressful condition which affects around 15-20% of five year olds, and up to 2% of young adults. Although there is a high rate of spontaneous remission, the social, emotional and psychological costs to the children can be great.

Objectives: To assess the effects of drugs other than desmopressin and tricyclics on nocturnal enuresis in children, and to compare them with other interventions.

Using "get with the guidelines" to improve cardiovascular secondary prevention.

Background: "Get With The Guidelines (GWTG)" was developed and piloted by the American Heart Association (AHA), New England Affiliate; MassPRO, Inc.; and other organizations to reduce the gap in the application of secondary prevention guidelines in hospitalized cardiovascular disease patients. Collaborative learning programs and technology solutions were created for the project.

Effects of interventions for the treatment of nocturnal enuresis in children.

The effectiveness of interventions for the treatment of nocturnal enuresis in children published in a recent issue of Effective Health Care is reviewed.

Smoking and liver cancer in China: case-control comparison of 36,000 liver cancer deaths vs. 17,000 cirrhosis deaths.

Liver cancer and liver cirrhosis are common causes of death in China, where chronic lifelong hepatitis B infection is a major cause of both diseases. To help determine whether smoking is a cofactor for the development of liver cancer, we ascertained retrospectively the smoking habits of 36,000 adults who had died from liver cancer (cases) and 17,000 who had died from cirrhosis (controls) in 24 Chinese cities and 74 rural counties. Calculations of the smoker vs.

Tricyclic and related drugs for nocturnal enuresis in children.

Background: Enuresis (bedwetting) is a socially disruptive and stressful condition which affects around 15-20% of five year olds, and up to 2% of young adults.

Objectives: To assess the effects of tricyclic and related drugs on nocturnal enuresis in children, and to compare them with other interventions.

Search Strategy: We searched the Cochrane Incontinence Group trials register (December 2002) and the reference lists of relevant articles including two previously published versions of this review.

Treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis with aminosidine (paromomycin) ointment: double-blind, randomized trial in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Objective: To compare the parasitological and clinical efficacy of four weeks versus two weeks of treatment with aminosidine (paromomycin) ointment in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania major in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Methods: Double-blind, randomized trial of four weeks of aminosidine ointment (n = 108) vs two weeks of aminosidine ointment and two weeks of placebo (n = 108). Patients were assessed on days 15, 29, 45, and 105 for clinical cures and clinical and parasitological cures.

MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study of cholesterol-lowering with simvastatin in 5963 people with diabetes: a randomised placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Individuals with diabetes are at increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, although typically their plasma concentrations of LDL cholesterol are similar to those in the general population. Previous evidence about the effects of lowering cholesterol in people with diabetes has been limited, and most diabetic patients do not currently receive cholesterol-lowering therapy despite their increased risk.

Methods: 5963 UK adults (aged 40-80 years) known to have diabetes, and an additional 14573 with occlusive arterial disease (but no diagnosed diabetes), were randomly allocated to receive 40 mg simvastatin daily or matching placebo.

Alarm interventions for nocturnal enuresis in children.

Background: Enuresis (bedwetting) is a socially disruptive and stressful condition which affects around 15-20% of five year olds, and up to 2% of young adults.

Objectives: To assess the effects of alarm interventions on nocturnal enuresis in children, and to compare alarms with other interventions.

Search Strategy: We searched the Cochrane Incontinence Group trials register (December 2002) and the reference lists of relevant articles.

CNS-directed therapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Childhood ALL Collaborative Group overview of 43 randomized trials.

Purpose: A collaborative meta-analysis was performed to clarify the relative effects on relapse and survival of different types of therapies directed at the CNS in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Materials And Methods: Data were sought for each individual patient in all trials started in or before 1993 that included unconfounded randomized comparisons of such treatments. Log-rank survival analyses were performed for each trial, and overall results for groups of trials addressing similar questions were obtained from the totals of the observed minus expected number of events and their variances.

Stability of plasma analytes after delayed separation of whole blood: implications for epidemiological studies.

Background: Large blood-based epidemiological studies require simple, cost-effective sample collection methods. Immediate sample separation or rapid transport of chilled blood samples to a central laboratory may be impractical or prohibitively expensive. To assess the feasibility and reliability of transporting blood samples over several days at ambient temperature (e.